58 CityAndStateNY.com
October 18, 2021
CITY & STATE NEW YORK MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING Publisher & General Manager Tom Allon tallon@ cityandstateny.com, Vice President of Operations Jasmin Freeman, Comptroller David Pirozzi, Business & Operations Manager Patrea Patterson, Administrative Assistant Lauren Mauro
Who was up and who was down last week
LOSERS THE BEST OF THE REST JESSICA RAMOS
The Queens Democrat has been one of many critics of the LaGuardia AirTrain, the “dumb” pet project of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Its apparent cancellation means Ramos will likely be spared the sight of watching the $2.1 billion boondoggle go through her state Senate district.
STEPHEN CRAMPTON & PLAINTIFFS
A judge sided with Stephen Crampton of the Thomas More Society – and the 17 hospital and nursing home workers the group represents – who sued over the state’s vaccine mandate for their right to seek a religious exemption to the rule.
CREATIVE Art Director Andrew Horton, Senior Graphic Designer Alex Law, Senior Graphic Designer Aaron Aniton, Junior Graphic Designer Juliet Goodman, Photo Researcher Michelle Steinhauser DIGITAL Digital Director Michael Filippi, Digital Marketing Manager Caitlin Dorman, Digital Strategist Isabel Beebe
CLAUDIA TENNEY After a review of the Federal Election Commission records by The Daily Beast, it was revealed that Rep. Claudia Tenney spent thousands of campaign dollars on businesses that the Trumpist claimed ownership of. Through Tenney’s campaigns for state and federal offices, the GOP lawmaker earned her family’s companies more than $100,000. Despite the multiple requests for comment, Tenney’s team has yet to respond. THE REST OF THE WORST LAURA CURRAN
The Nassau County executive was caught breaking her own law, after it was discovered that she was sending taxpayers governmentfunded mailers with her name on them within 45 days prior to an election. Challenger Bruce Blakeman wants her to reimburse the county $80K for the mailers. He isn’t going to letter get away with this.
ADVERTISING Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@ cityandstateny.com, Account Executive Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com, Vice President of Business Development Danielle Koza dkoza@ cityandstateny.com, Media and Event Sales Associate Zimam Alemenew, Sales Assistant Garth McKee, Legal Advertising Associate Sean Medal EVENTS events@cityandstateny.com Events and Sales Director Lissa Blake, Events, Marketing and PR Manager Alexis Arsenault, Events Coordinator Amanda Cortez ADVISORY BOARD Chair Sheryl Huggins Salomon Board members Sayu Bhojwani, Gregg Bishop, David Jones, Maite Junco, Andrew Kirtzman, Tara L. Martin, Mike Nieves, Juanita Scarlett, Larry Scott Blackmon, Lupe Todd-Medina, Ashwin Vasan, Trip Yang
Vol. 10 Issue 40 October 18, 2021
The curious case of Brian Benjamin Few could have predicted his rise to lieutenant governor, and now he’s got his sights set on the 2022 election.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
All men are created equal, but not all statues are. At least that’s the case for some New York City officials, who have recently pushed to have the Founding Father’s statue booted from City Hall after 187 years.
WINNERS & LOSERS is published every Friday morning in City & State’s First Read email. Sign up for the email, cast your vote and see who won at cityandstateny.com.
THE POWER OF DIVERSITY
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October 18, 2021
Cover photograph: Sean Pressley
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STATE SENATE; CYNTHIA NIXON CAMPAIGN; LEAH HERMAN/U.S. HOUSE OFFICE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
ROBERT JACKSON & CYNTHIA NIXON Just like that, the governor of New York and the one-time gubernatorial candidate were friends. Cynthia Nixon was on the receiving end of a phone call from Gov. Kathy Hochul, letting her know that the state had finally, officially settled the decades-old Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, which was welcome news to state Sen. Robert Jackson, who was the lead plantiff on the case.
OUR PICK
OUR PICK
WINNERS
With eight months to the primary, Gov. Kathy Hochul is in a pretty good position for reelection, according to a new Marist poll. But in case that slips, she’s got a trick up her sleeve: Canadians. That’s right – the U.S.-Canadian border, which has largely been closed for the past 18 months, is going to open up again, and many New Yorkers from western New York and the North Country are overjoyed. Next year, dual citizens could be taking their Tim Hortons coffee to the polls and backing Hochul en masse.
EDITORIAL editor@cityandstateny.com Editor-in-Chief Ralph Ortega rortega@cityandstateny. com, Managing Editor Eric Holmberg, Deputy Managing Editor Holly Pretsky, Associate Editor Patricia Battle, Associate Editor Kay Dervishi, NYN Editor Amanda Luz Henning Santiago, Senior Reporter Jeff Coltin jcoltin@cityandstateny.com, Senior State Politics Reporter Zach Williams zwilliams@cityandstateny.com, Deputy State Politics Reporter Rebecca C. Lewis rlewis@ cityandstateny.com, Deputy City Hall Reporter Annie McDonough amcdonough@cityandstateny.com, Editorial Assistant Jasmine Sheena, Editorial Intern Gabriel Poblete, Editorial Intern Kim Corona